Rock 'n' Roll Groupie Locker

from the Groupie Feminism art series

Attributions

11" x 4" x 4 1/2"

2019

Metal locker found at a thrift store in Los Angeles, 2017, with stickers on the exterior sides; American Girl bars of butter; Bratz doll tiara; tube of gold glitter; candle; red heart-shaped mount; toy penis; matchbooks from Little Pine vegan restaurant (Silver Lake, Los Angeles) and Vroman's independent bookstore (Pasadena, Los Angeles); lipstick kiss from a stamp print; a pencil; images from book and record jackets, liner notes, a logo, a contract, and magazines; music note, rose, star, and glitter stickers.

Images from the following:

Albums/Songs -

"Superstar," The Carpenters, 1972

"Groupie (Superstar)," Delaney & Bonnie and Friends featuring Eric Clapton,1969

 Special Groupie, Free Kitten, 1993

Permanent Damage, GTO's, 1969

The Groupies, 1969

"Groupie," New Riders of the Purple Sage, 1972

"Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)," Luther Vandross, 1983

Book jacket covers -

Pamela Des Barres' I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie (1987), Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up (1992), Rock Bottom: Dark Moments in Music Babylon (1996), Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and SuperGroupies (2007), and Let It Bleed: How to Write a Rockin' Memoir (2016)

Cherry Vanilla's Lick Me: How I Became Cherry Vanilla (by way of the Copacabana, Madison Avenue, the Fillmore East, Andy Warhol, David Bowie, and the Police (2010)

Morgana Welch's Hollywood Diaries (2007)

Jann Wenner's Groupies and Other Girls: A Rolling Stone Special Report, 1970

Groupies and Other Electric Ladies, Baron Wolman, 2015 and 2016.

Cartoon- Polly Platforms, by Petagno from Star, May, 1973

Logo - Saks Fifth Avenue, from a 2016 water bottle

Lyrics - "Superstar," written by Bonnie Bramlett, Rita Coolidge, and Leon Russell, from the Carpenters'  liner notes of The Carpenters, The Singles, 1969-1973, 1972 and 1973

Promotional photograph - The GTO's

Magazines -

Creem, photo of LA Queens by Julien Wasser, August, 1974

Rolling Stone magazine, the "Groupie" issue, 1969

Star covers, February - June, 1973; article by Carole Picker and photographs by Richard Creamer, “Sunset Strip Groupies! Who, What, When, & How (Wow!),” June, 1973

Artist Statement

From the Groupie Feminism series of assemblage artworks, the  Rock 'n' Roll Groupie Locker honors groupie legends such as Barbara the Butter Queen; Cleo & Cookie; the GTO's Miss Christine, Miss Cynderella, Miss Lucy, Miss Mercy, Miss Pamela, Miss Sandra, and Miss Sparkie; Cynthia Plaster Caster; Sweet Connie; Jenni Dean; Audrey Hamilton; Emmaretta Marks; Lori "Lightning" Mattix; Lithofayne Pridgon; Adriana Smith; Sabel Starr; Cherry Vanilla; Morgana Welch; and Devon Wilson. It includes album, book, and magazine covers, song lyrics, a toy penis on a red heart, a champagne candle, a pencil, a tiara, star stickers, and gold glitter!

I chose an item to represent each woman: bars of butter for Barbara the Butter Queen; the album cover and record label of the album Cleo and Cookie recorded, The Groupies; the album cover and the cover page of the album liner notes for the album the GTO's recorded, Permanent Damage, plus a copy of their signed recording contract (they each signed in a different color pen!) and a GTO's promotional photograph; a penis on a heart-shaped mount for Cynthia Plaster Caster; gold glitter for Sweet Connie because she wore gold glitter on her body in footage of her getting dressed to go out; a champagne candle for Jenni Dean because the photos Baron Wolman took of her show her in studded jeans and a polka dot shirt whose circles remind me of champagne bubbles; the Saks Fifth Avenue logo for Audrey Hamilton because she wore an SFA t-shirt in a picture of her with Robert Plant; music stickers for Emmaretta Marks, whose pose in Wolman's photos looks like a music revolution; a tiara for LA Queen, Lori "Lightning" Mattix; a star sticker for Lithofayne Pridgon, the foxy lady in Hendrix's song, and friend of many famous musicians; and the book covers of authors Pamela Des Barres' I'm With the Band, Take Another Little Piece of My Heart, Let's Spend the Night Together, Rock Bottom, and Let It Bleed; Cherry Vanilla's Lick Me;  Morgana Welch's Hollywood Diaries; and a pencil for Devon Wilson, about whom Jimi Hendrix wrote the 1971 song, "Dolly Dagger."

I also included the magazine covers and a comic panel from Star magazine, the notorious and short-lived magazine for groupies, and a few inside pages from Star including the interview with LA Queens, Sabel and Queenie;  and the cover of the Rolling Stone "Groupie" issue.

Plus, the album covers and/or record sleeves of albums by The Carpenters, and Luther Vandross, because they sang so perfectly and poignantly about groupies.

Also, an album cover by Free Kitten called "Special Groupie." And the sleeve with vinyl for the 45" release of the song, "Groupie," by New Riders of the Purple Sage, and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends featuring Eric Clapton's 45" release of "Groupie (Superstar)"! And lyrics to that amazing song that started it all for me: "Groupie (Superstar)," written by Bonnie Bramlett, Rita Coolidge, and Leon Russell.  I hand wrote in Coolidge's name with the pencil in the assemblage. Coolidge is not often credited, and I want to set the record straight.

The Polly Platforms comic panel features a dog alongside Polly. Free Kitten's Special Groupie  album cover features a kitten being tended by a nurse. I made sure to include them because I'm not just a feminist. I'm a vegan feminist!

My signature on the back of the locker and the name of my oral history mixtape zine, The Groupie Gospels, on the top of the locker, are all in sparkly stickers.